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Life, Cars and Momentum

Cranky Donkey: Be a You Expert

There are too many marketing wannabes and so-called self-proclaimed experts on social media. Far too many, in fact, and it’s become a bit of a problem: everywhere you go, there’s some guy or gal spouting off about how Twitter made them famous — and how it can make everyone a celebrity — or how to write an article that makes people jump off the couch in celebration and awe. Social media has become the domain of “look at me” narcissists and Suzie Homemaker Social Media Agencies.

Ugh.
Fact is, many of these wizards are former corporate marketers who can’t write anything more than a three-bullet powerpoint slide. They specialize in getting other people to do work for them. To their credit they managed to read a book about digital marketing and, well, they’re now thought leaders of crap. Here’s a tip: if you think you’re an expert, try building a mobile ap or something. We’ll wait.

Sadly, the result is a bunch of noise about stats and ever-hopeful trends that point to the emergence of social channels as the perpetual NEXT BIG THING. It makes me want to hide in my basement. Please. Stop. Just because you have too much time on your hands does not give you the right to foist your questionable expertise on unsuspecting clients and followers.

Instead, start sharing stuff that may actually be interesting and insightful. If you’re a corporate guy, then write about how you get an agency to do all your work — and how hard it is to get them to do it right. Write how to craft an effective brief, or, even better, write about that time the agency took you to the strip club. Stories about expense account mayhem are always good. If you’re an agency account executive, write about how you explained all those lap dances to your boss — or how you deal with lazy know-it-all clients and prissy creative types. And if you sell things, write about how you do that – sell stuff – and be a helpful resource to consumers. You don’t have to be good at writing. You can suck at shooting video. The point is the content and its value to people looking for something interesting to read and share.

Be a you expert. Even if you happen to like sleeping in and drinking too much bad whiskey.